Smoke and Mirrors
by hitomi-G
Summary: When everything in their lives seem to be starting to take their correct place and time, Takeda and Ukai fight over the coach's smoking habit and end up losing more than what they were willing to lose. Ukai decides it's time to stop smoking, but it's too late now that the consequences are starting to become visible.


**_SMOKE AND MIRRORS_**

 ** _PROLOGUE_**

Keishin doesn't know. Although it's been almost a whole year he has no idea. He goes back to the time when he met the team and he still doesn't understand. He remembers how much affection he started to feel for everyone, he knows he felt comfortable being around them, he can't deny the hints of red that came up to his cheeks when talking to their advisor and he doesn't frown at the memory of himself and sensei walking back home together after every practice, taking a direction opposite to the one all the boys walked.

And he knows he grabbed sensei's loose locks of hair while walking, and he smiles at the memory of him talking animatedly during the whole promenade through the park and then to the hill that led them to Sakanoshita Store, and he always talks about how they flirted in such a way it was almost imperceptible for the by passers, but he really can't remember when was the time when he fell in love with Takeda Ittetsu.

It just happened, unexpectedly like most of best thing in life. One day he was obliging him out of his the store, the next day he laid covered under sensei's blankets in his house with the tenue light of the T.V. lighting their features as they kissed tender smooches into the other's neck and temples.

Even now, Keishin can't recall the exact moment that defined his feelings for the teacher, however many times he repeats the memories in his head. His relationship started as merely two men who took care of a bunch of hyped teenagers who were part of a volleyball team, nothing weird about that, right? They barely talked to each other to begin with. Sensei would ask him a few volleyball related questions and turn his head back to the kids practicing in court. It was Keishin who approached him whenever he wanted to know something about the boys but was too shy to just ask something personal to them. "How good were their grades?" "Do they all get along well?" "Kageyama seems worried about something. How's his family doing?" He was usually really blunt. The first time he met them he didn't even ask their names, he just urged them to get ready to play a match against university students and high school graduates who had more experience and technique than them and proceeded to take mental note of their abilities and strengths. It was later, after coaching them for two entire weeks, that he had learned all of their names, grades in school and positions.

It was Takeda who taught him.

"Eh, yeah, that's Hinata-kun for you. He's a… let me see…" he had said while reading through his notes "a middle blocker".

"A middle blocker? That shorty?".

"Yes. He looks forward to become like that famous Karasuno player, the Little Giant they call him".

"I see. Well, I've certainly see him spiking the black haired setter's tosses in a regular basis, but I thought for sure he was a wing spiker, or that maybe he was just testing every position to find which one suited him better".

And so on. Keishin still remembers how sensei's face lit when he was talking about them, his eyes sparkling with pride, and he also remembers that he was quite good at keeping the conversation going on once it had started, but he is also pretty sure that Takeda never started any of them himself. And Keishin doesn't know if that is what dragged him into talking more to him or if it was the fact that he was the only adult company he had during that time. Maybe he just enjoyed talking about volleyball more than he could have admitted back then, but whatever the reason he always found a reason to close the distance that was kept between them in the school gymnasium and talk to him.

Keishin even had thought that sensei didn't like him. Whenever their gazes found each other the teacher would only smile at him and then turn his eyes back to the court. It wasn't such a surprise, the only reason he had approached him in the first place was because the team needed a coach, and he happened to have experience and knowledge in volleyball and a prestigious surname to top it all. It was obvious that the teacher would have never been interested in talking to a guy in his mid-twenties, with his lobe pierced and his hair bleached and whose personality was far from interesting. He spent his days sitting in a store reading manga and occasionally going out for fun matches or drinks with friends. He also had such a bad temper and he couldn't help but to be blunt when he spoke, he was proud and he found it hard to bond with people, he constantly found himself frowning unintentionally to those around him in spite of his efforts to smile back at costumers, and he still lived with his parents.

And Keishin was obnoxious. He still is. Maybe not as much as sensei though, but he would never tell him that. It was because of that that instead of keeping the distance he started to board the teacher with not volleyball related questions outside the gym and that he started to ask if it was okay to walk alongside him when he discovered they followed the same route home. He didn't have hidden intentions, nor he wanted to become friends with him; he just didn't want sensei to have a bad impression of him, not when they were seeing each other almost every day of the week for several hours. Even if sensei never came to like him at all, at least he would have known that Keishin wasn't a bad person or as immature as he looked. He just didn't want to have a tense working relationship with him; he just didn't want things to become weird.

But they did. They had become friends at last. Sensei's company was maybe not fun, but always pleasing and interesting. He learned a whole bunch of things about him too, his habits, his family background, his hobbies and many other things, and Keishin was amused when he realized he hadn't had problems sharing the same information about himself. They started to spend more time together after working hours. Takeda paid occasional visits to Sakanoshita store to see how everything was going, and Keishin would stop by sometimes at sensei's house to help him install some electronic device or share a recipe.

At some point, Keishin started to notice he acted a certain way around sensei. He would offer to carry, open, do, help and even cook for him. Some other times he would reply a text with a flirty emoticon, and some others he would say pick-up lines and then disguise them with laughter and a weak and poorly convincing "I'm joking, sensei". He would start to feel a huge urge to touch him, or to hug him, or to simply brush his hair with his fingers; and he did a few times. He never really thought about these acts as signs of the inevitable crush he had, but as signs of proximity and friendship. He thought once that maybe we just felt too comfortable being around him, that his presence made him lower his guard or something and that he was just acting brotherly towards him, that until sensei started to reciprocate.

The change was obvious. When Keishin arrived late for practice, sensei would ask if everything was all right while reaching to grab the bottom edge of his t-shirt, if Keishin told a joke sensei would start to laugh even if he hadn't reached the funny part, whenever Keishin lifted his hand to take away a grain of rice from the corner of sensei's lips while eating, sensei would smile and place his hand over his for a brief instant. If Keishin's headband slid out of place, sensei would stand on the tip of his toes and reach for it as he exhaled his warm breath over the coach's parted lips. When Keishin realized he couldn't fight the distance anymore and kissed him, sensei kissed back. After that everything became clear.

They talked about it, and they both agreed that neither of them expected things to become like that between them, but it had happened and now they were together. They couldn't even find something uncomfortable about their first dates ort times alone once they became a couple, because they had already come over the fact that what they were doing wasn't weird, it wasn't just some teenage crush, but an adult and stablished relationship, and they found comfort and happiness being next to each other.

Keishin was a little put off sometimes due to the age difference and their academic backgrounds. Sensei made him listen to audiobooks of classic Japanese and foreign classic books when he heard from Keishin that he wasn't really good at reading stuff that didn't contain pictures or photographs, and Keishin would find himself enjoying the stories and talking animatedly about them with Takinoue or Shimada. Keishin also started to google things about literature and art and culture in general because he didn't want people to think that sensei was going out with some 'uncultured guy from town' even though he was told by Takeda that he didn't really care about those stuff and that he enjoyed talking to him about any and every topic they could.

But Keishin found out that even though sensei wasn't thirty yet, he felt insecure about aging to fast or starting to forget things too. He was constantly searching for things the youth did and asking Keishin what this or that abbreviation in texts meant. Keishin found it fascinating that sensei was so worried about acting like some really old teacher and always reassured him that he didn't need to worry. It came as a surprise when sensei confessed that he did it to feel closer to his students, but he also did it for him, because he didn't want the age gap to feel weird and because he was afraid Keishin would get tired of him because of his age. They were merely three years apart from each other, yet sensei panicked over that fact as if they were thirteen.

They adored each other. They were mature and responsible about the way things went between them. They went to the cinema and the theater together, they hung out with friends, they didn't need to show affection in public to validate their relationship, but they still enjoyed and got the best out of their time alone. They made love in a regular basis, but not as frequently as many of their acquaintances would think, and they were always respectful and caring and thought about the other's comfort before doing anything. They were good at communicating their feelings and opinions, and they weren't overly romantic o cheesy. They had a couple of fights, but they had faced their problems with maturity once the inevitable anger phase was over.

They told people about them. Keishin's parents met sensei and were very pleased because he finally settled down for someone responsible and admirable. Sensei's family didn't live in town, and they hadn't visited either, but phone calls and a few mail gift exchanges made up for that. Their only problem was Keishin's grandfather, who refused to accept the relationship as long as his grandson wouldn't act mature enough to be with Takeda. He did it more as a joke though, because up to this day he still loves to annoy him.

How was it even possible for Keishin to be so happy? He really can't find an answer. He stopped being the grumpy guy at the store uphill and transformed into the reliable and handsome boyfriend of the literature teacher. Even in such a small town with little to no things to do, they never got bored because they had each other.

And so time passed by and the seasons changed. The third years graduated and a whole new scholar year started. The volleyball team had now a new captain, and the first year idiots became the second year idiots. Yamaguchi and Yachi had started to date, and Tsukishima had found himself a new hobby in mocking the first years every chance he had. Tanaka became an even greater spiker and was promoted to ace, and all the others stayed the same, just a little bit older. Sensei welcomed the new first years with his usual straight-out-of-a-book words and Keishin finished the first practice by treating everyone to popsicles.

Keishin doesn't remember when it all started, but his life sure was amazing.


End file.
